Notes on a Stone Circle in Wigtownshire. by Fred. R
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
0 9 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , JANUAR , 189711 Y . III. NOTES ON A STONE CIRCLE IN WIGTOWNSHIRE. BY FRED. R. COLES, COKK. MEM. Soo. ANTUI. SOOT. (WITH PLAN VIEW.D SAN ) The Standing Stones of Torhouse, of which there is no description in the Proceedings, are situated on either side of the road hetween Wigtown and Kirkcowan, about 3| miles N.W. of the county town. The name on Font's map is Torhouse Macky, and to this day it is locally pro- nounced Torrus-kie. These remains have been noticed and partially describe d Andreol y b dw Symson, ministe f Kirkinneo r d Muiran ; r , who penned the greater part of his Lighthouse at the Mull of Galloway in 1864, also gives a plan of the principal group of stones, which, how- ever, tends to mislead, by being too diagrammatic and regular. Like many other stone circles in the adjoining Stewartry, this at Torhouse Moor seem t firsa se environmenth t e sighb o t t a cairn f o t , but with the added feature of three great stones in line near its centre. facte Th , however , tha accumulatio,e is th t f stoneno s withi aree nth s ai e clearancresule th th fielde f o tth f . eo Many cartloads informem a I , d by Rev. George Wilson, who knew the site years ago, of stones were emptied round the three great central blocks, till, on his applying to the factor, the abuse was stopped. Three examples of stone circles having a central monolit e recordee Proceedings,ar y hpapeth m n i n ri d vol. xxix. p. 316; but this Wigtownshire circle is the only one known to me having more tha monolitna f suco h h bulk withi e areath n , wite hth exception f courseo , f suco , h chambered cairn possess a s s tall, upright, pillar-like stones, distinctively forming the sides or ends of the enclosing burial structure. t TherTorhousekiea e ear , beside e circleth s , several smaller groups of great stones e positionth , s and arrangemen f whico t h wil made b l e clear by a reference to the accompanying general plan (fig. 1). Ap- proaching these fields from the south or Wigtown side, one is first arrested by the group of three stones on a slight, very gently ascending height on the east. The Ordnance map (6 inch scale) shows four stones here, that on the south forming a rectangle with the tallest of the three NOTES ON A STONE CIKCLE IN WIGTOWNSHIRE. 91 now extant. But Muir mentions only three. Nearly opposite, and built inte dike largth oa s i , e stone (granite ?), bearin s uprighit n go t surface a deeply cut oval-shaped basin 15 inches by 8-J inches (see D, fig. 1). This also was observed by Muir. Leaving on the right the ruined sites of three cairns reace w e ,principa th h l e Standingrouth f o p g Stones. e enlargeTh d plan (fig ) show2 . e arrangementh s f theso t e two-and- CAIRNS Fig. 1. General Plan. twenty stones s faithfulla , s single-handea y d measuremen triangulay b t - l rudee stoneal tiorendeTh e n , ar nsca somewha . it r t rounded, quite unhewn blocks whinstoni f e graniteo s serroneousli on s t (a eno ; y stated in The Lighthouse); neither is the circumference a true circle, e interspaceth noe ar r s regular. Severa e stoneth f so l stand close upon fee5 t abov especialle ar e S ground d y an conspicuous A ; ; B, w nono t nearly so perpendicular as its fellows, measures over that along its sloping upper e thresideTh e. central stones present some difficulties. seee b ny Afro ma se groun mth d plan (fig , the2) . y hav t beeeno n placed Fig . Pla 2 .Sectiod nan f Circlno t Torhousekieea . HIJ K L MN Fig. 3. View of Circle at Torhousekie. NOTES ON A STONE CIRCLE IN WIGTOWNSHIRE. 93 so that their longest sides could have formed the sides of a grave; and the presence of the smaller middle stone further tends to dispel the notion that these stones directly surrounde intermentn da . This middle stone, however s beeha , n moved t presena r fo ;t i slopet s northwards into the earth to such, a distance as to preclude the possibility of measuring it. But, even on the supposition that its length once nearly filled up the space between the two greater stones—nearly 8 feet wide —an s inneit d rn lini edgey la wite he easterl th tha f o t y stonee th , interment could not be said to be enclosed by these three stones alone. If there has been an overground interment here, built on the same prin- e severae Stewartryciplar th s n a ei l , several large stones must have been removed from the south side and the east end. The extreme un- likelihood of an overground interment is attested by, at any rate, the following pieces of negative evidence: tradition tells of none; history records no attempt at discovering the popular " pot of gold "; and, on the ground itself, there is not the least vestige of any thin whinstone slabs commonl, sucare has y use Gallowadin y kist-vaens. inclinedam I 1 , on these grounds, therefore rano t , k this circl f Torhousekieo e with those t Glenquickena , Par f Tonglando k e d StewartryHillsth an , n e i , th n i , belief tha e intermenth t te circlewil th e aree foun b th lf ao , n nearei d r the circumference than the centre. About 170 feet to the S.E. of the central stone, over the dike (see fig. 1), two other stones remain, 21 feet apart: one is a huge boulder 4 feet 6 inches high, the other pros- e centrath We 0 feef o .du 50 lt e stond firs tratf threth an o ts ei ; e great stones, all prostrate, lying very much as if they formed the sole relic smala f so l circle, som fee0 e3 diametern i t . Popular tradition associates this circle of the Standing Stones of Torhouskie with the grave of the reputed King Galdus; and it is usually supposed that Symso e authorit th a e belief s s th i n A r .fo y matte f facto r , however, Symson merely quote thee th sn current tradi- tion in his Large Descvvption of Galloway, which was written in 1684, and revised 1692. In the Appendix No. V., printed from the SiVbald MSS., when describing Wigtown e authorth , these us s e word s: " Near 1 See my "Record of Kist-vaens found in The Stewartry," in The Reliquary for January 1897. 4 9 PROCEEDING SSOCIETYE OTH F , JANUARY 11, 1897. Monumene th s Kine i th tt oi g f o tGaldu s (from whom some thine kth Shyre was named). There is ther ane large circle of ground, set round with long obelisk stones, and some shorter ones in the middle." lase th t n editioI f Harper'no s Rambles n Gallmcay,i . 327p , occurs an unaccountable blunder. Quoting in full Symson's description of the Standing Stones, in its very midst, the author adds a passage from the Statistical Account, effece th o tt thathire th t dn " o followe stonth s ei - ingmentoe M , mori," &c. This passage really appliee thirth f o do t s three gravestones in the kirkyard of the parish church of "Wigtown..